Do you want to create high-quality content consistently – but feel like the demand for new, fresh, relevant content every day is overwhelming?
If so, I get it. Content creation can easily eat up all your time as an online entrepreneur if you’re not careful–and strategic. If you’d love to make your weekly content creation process easier, while still putting out content that reflects your unique ideas and thoughts – aka the good stuff that makes people see your content and say, “I’ve gotta buy their program!”) – you’re in the right place.
Let’s explore 7 simple yet impactful ways to streamline your content creation efforts, so you can create just as much content in less time every week.
1) Plan Ahead with a Content Calendar
Yes, it’s basic, but it’s oh-so-necessary: A well-organized content calendar is your best friend when it comes to simplifying content creation. My recommendation is to plan your content at least a month in advance.
You can choose what works best for you as far as format goes–maybe you just need to outline themes, topics, and formats for each week in a Google Doc, or maybe you want to get fancy and set up a Notion or Asana template. Regardless, proactively setting up a content calendar can help you avoid last-minute freak outs because you have “nothing to post” and ensure you always have a steady flow of content that aligns with your business goals. Basically? Even the most basic content calendar can be a major time and headache-saver.
2) Repurpose, Reuse and Recycle
Think you need to constantly create new content from scratch for your people? Think again, friend! Maximize the value of your existing content by repurposing it in various formats. You can transform a blog post into a video, a podcast episode into a tantalizing blog post, or a series of sizzling social media posts into an in-depth guide. Repurposing not only saves major time, but it can also help you reach different segments of your audience since everybody likes to consume content in different ways.
You can also recycle content–aka re-publish past well-performing pieces of content, either in part, in whole or with a few tweaks or updates.
Pro tip: To make this even easier and faster, try creating your content with repurposing in mind from the start – in list-icle format or in sections with sub-headings so it’s super easy to repurpose when the time comes. And if you’re really short on time (and hey, who isn’t these days), you can even pop your content into an AI tool to help you repurpose more quickly, too… OR grab this workbook to help you create 25+ posts from each piece of content you create!
3) Batch Your Tasks
You’ve probably heard this one, but it’s worth repeating: Batching your content creation is a great general rule of thumb. Batching means grouping similar tasks together and completing them in a single session or block of time. For example, you might dedicate specific days or time blocks to writing, recording videos or designing graphics. This approach is so highly regarded because it works. And it works because when you group similar tasks together, you do less context-switching, so t’s easier to get into a flow state–and you can sometimes wind up pumping out multiple blog posts, record videos, or graphics in one glorious sitting.
If you don’t love batching, I get it. Sometimes we need more variety in our days! But at the very least, you should know exactly which days – and times – you’re handling which tasks in your content creation process. And that leads perfectly into my next tip…
4) Create Templates and Guidelines
Most entrepreneurs have SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for their businesses, but sometimes they overlook crafting SOPs specifically for content creation. But oh, what a mistake that is, gorgeous.
Each marketing channel you create content for should have its own well-documented process, as well as easy-to-use content templates and style guidelines that reflect your brand’s voice and aesthetics.
When you have a consistent structure for blog posts, social media posts, and emails, it really speeds up the creation process–and it makes the ability to outsource your content so much easier, to boot.
5) Leverage User-Generated Content & Curate Other Valuable Content
What if I told you that you don’t actually have to create all your own content–even if you don’t outsource? It’s true: your satisfied customers and engaged followers can actually do a lot of the work for you. Instead of racking your own brain for fresh topics of ideas, share user-generated content, testimonials, and success stories from people who’ve used or seen radical results from your offers. Not only does using user-generated content clearly showcase your offers’ value, but it also reduces the need to spend hours at your laptop or on your phone everyday crafting content from scratch.
In that same vein, you can also curate valuable content from other experts in your niche or adjacent, relevant niches. Share their insights, add your perspective, and provide credit. Bam! Curated content can be a valuable addition to your content mix and positions you as a knowledgeable resource. (Plus, if you tag the original creator in your content, you might make a connection or get a shoutout.)
6) Automate It All!
In today’s world there’s no excuse NOT to leverage your time with social media or other content automation and scheduling tools. Be sure you’ve got a social media scheduling tool set up that allows you to plan and schedule your posts in advance–and even better if it allows you to recycle the content over & over. Automation like this means you can maintain an active online presence without constantly being tied to your social media accounts, so you can focus on other critical (and/or pleasurable) tasks, from mapping out a new product idea to sipping La Croix on the back porch with your fam.
7) Outsource and Delegate to AI or Other Humans
As you probably know, I’m all about sticking to your zone of genius and outsourcing the rest. If content creation – or just one piece of content creation, like writing captions or filming video – isn’t your jam, don’t stress it! Instead, consider outsourcing certain content creation tasks. You can hire freelance writers, graphic designers, or social media managers to handle specific aspects of content creation.
And if outsourcing isn’t in the cards right now, start smaller and use AI. I mentioned you can use it for content repurposing, but you can also tap into AI tools for content research (like if you’re writing a pillar blog post) or just to help jog your brain with some fun hook or opening line ideas. (I’ve written a post all about other ways to use AI right here, by the way.)
Bottom line: Simplifying your content creation doesn’t have to mean sacrificing quality (or stopping posting all together), but a little structure, streamlining and maybe even outsourcing can help you create crazy-valuable content without spending your entire life online. And let’s be real: We definitely didn’t start our own businesses to do that, now did we?
